ReBeginnings
by Ghosthly Shadow
Summary: A freak occurence sends 20 year old Harry into the body of his 11 year old self. He has no memory of who he was, or will be. He is sorted into Slytherin in this timeline. 'Now let's watch this little play unfold.' Might up to M rated Slash, MM, be warned.
1. Prologue

Yes, yes I'm writing a new story. And I still have one story incomplete- I've discontinued the other. Don't worry people who are reading 'Fatum Nonvolui Pupa' when I update the second chapter of this story I will update that as well. This chapter is going to be short, it's just a prologue. Hope you enjoy it. You all better review glares. I also want critics to review too. I also need a beta.

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Prologue: The Dancing Lights 

A 20 year old Harry sat in front of a large mahogany table, scribbling the first draft for his second novel: Re-Beginnings. The book would be a sequel to his first novel- Cacophony. That book had been a bestseller and hopefully, if everything went right this would be too. Re-Beginnings was planned to be a 600 hundred pages, planned being the crucial word: Harry might go over just like he did for the last one. Already he'd written 200 pages and the book was supposed to be finished by September 1st next year, and knowing Harry that deadline would never be met. The books, or series rather, were based around a mentally unstable guy having, or thinking that he has to save the world from WWIII, with the help of a mutant kid that , at first, had been bestowed amazing powers in the most natural of ways but then got experimented on by deranged scientist that were funded by the Japanese government. It had being a surprise when Harry's first book (which had introduced the main characters and the animosity between mutants and humans. Harry had also added a little thing to keep the readers going: a mysterious figure who pulled the strings of the governments of the world and who had a certain interest in Lucent (the mutant kid) and a past history with Gray (a companion of Demyne –the mentally unstable guy-) had taken a place in World Bestseller and then Harry had almost died when it won 5 separate awards. Harry never thought his book was "all that" he thought it was okay. Not bad but not very good either. But he was just being... what ever word Hermoine had used.

Hermoine had been thrilled when Harry announced that he was going to go into writing. The Weasley had thought the same at least until they found out it had nothing to do with the magical world. With the exception of Ron and Ginny of course. Hermoine said that it would help him to do something worthwhile for he was being "incredibly idle" as she mildly put it. She had been right as she usually was. He felt a lot better now, it took his mind off Voldermort and Dumbledore and what happened that night and what had happened with Ginny. And how it had all gone wrong after he had killed Draco Malfoy.

Harry shook his head making his dark ebony hair fly into a halo around his head. It was tidier now –but it was still messy- than it had been in his school days. He was trying to fling the thoughts of the past away from his head. He hated these thoughts, hated them, they made him fall into depression and melancholy. He then raised his hand to wipe his teary and tired eyes, and started the breathing exercise. Seven seconds in, hold for seven seconds and out for seven seconds. He had been thought this by his psychologist from 2 years ago; he'd been forced to go to her after he had almost killed himself. She had been great help, and that's saying something when it came to psychologists. Said psychologist had been recommended by non other than Seamus Finnigan (who was happily married to Dean Thomas) who now worked as a psychologist in St. Mungo in the Psyche department.

Then he felt something on the Anit-Apparation wards. Something small but still worth investigating. Anything that disturbed the wards here was worth investigating. Nothing came to Grim Demise. Nothing expect for Ron, Hermoine and Remus (Snape used to be included but after Draco-) and they had Hermione's specially designed Apparation keys. Grim Demise was where Harry lived when he wanted isolation. Isolation from life, stress, pain, and assailment from the magical media. He had bought the land and built the mansion with his magic –his magic was more than it had been, way more than it had been. Grim Demise was a 19th century mansion. and it was huge. Harry had designed everything thing himself from the height of the mansion itself to the shape of the each if the windows of the twenty three rooms. He was very proud of his work, very.

Harry opened the door to his private study and walked out, looking from left to right as if crossing a muggle road. He cautiously walked down the large hall reminiscent of Hogwarts halls.

He whispered to himself "Nothing."

Then just to be sure he lifted his hand to look at the bracelet around it. The bracelet was connected to all the of the wards that had been set up around Grim Demise, it would tell if there had been a breach- the normally silver of the bracelet would turn black in a certain area (showing which of the wards had been breached).

Again it was one of Hermoine little inventions that had sold big when brought to the magical community. Hermoine was a budding inventor, her decision to be an inventor had shocked everyone, especially Harry and Ron. Everyone had thought she would be either a teacher or historian or something to do with books. Harry even thought that she would go further into the study of magic and become a sorceress or enchantress or something equally powerful. But she was very good at inventing; she had brought the magical community into the new decade. Even the Americans and Japanese wanted her inventions for they were so good. At the moment she was working on Muggle products that would work in a place laden with magic, like a phone for example.

The bracelet was black all around.

"What?"

This was impossible. Totally impossible. There was no way that anyway wizard or animal could have breached all of the wards that had been set up. No one could perform that feat without a key. These wards had been set up personally by Harry, and Harry, since the demise of Voldermort, was the most powerful wizard in the whole of the British Wizarding community. The only was someone could have breached the wards was using fresh and pure blood from a dragon, a unicorn, a phoenix, a Sylph or a Nix. But those were nigh impossible to get as the blood of any pure magical creature was dangerous to handle. The magic in the blood was unstable and would kill a human on contact. So then what was this? The bracelet could not malfunction it was connected directly to the wards and so connected to Harry.

He raced down the huge stairwell into the huge hall of the mansion. Nothing was there. He walked into the centre of the hall. He looked around. Over his head hung a giant chandelier that the gnomes of Mareian had made for him. He stood in the centre of a giant five point unicursal star. He looked again at the bracelet; just to make sure he hadn't been seeing things- the bracelet was still black. He was about to take a step forwards when the air in front of him shimmered. He froze.

"Shit."

Then out of the air came an absolutely stunning creature. It was small, looked to be the size of a fist and stalk thin apart from it's head and tail. It was curved with it's small aerodynamic head held high, five wings unfolded at it's back, following the line of it's body

Then there was a loud roar to Harry's left, not the roar of a lion but the roar of fire, of the elements. Harry turned his body and reluctantly turned his head, he didn't want to take his eyes of the awesome creature in front of him, but he turned his head nevertheless. There in front of him was a fire, floating about a feet above the ground. By the looks of it the fire had come out of nowhere. The fire was huge, about the same size as Harry. Then it started to shift until it adopted the head, shoulder and torso of a human. The body ended in a point, if it could be defined as point. Slowly two eye-shaped holes appeared in it's head as if this fiery creature had just opened it's eyes.

"What the fuck is going on."

Harry then turned around and waited for the earth creature to appear. He was smart enough to have a vague idea what was going on. Someone was summoning elemental sprites for a ritual, a really big and powerful ritual. And whoever was summoning it must be a fairy or elf for no normal witch or wizard could summon beings like sprite. A summon like that involved calling to the Earth and speaking to it and then drawing life from its depths. Humans could not connect to the earth, never. Even two of-

A cracking sound tore Harry out of his thought. He looked closely at the crack on the third point of the pentagram. It grew wider and wider until a chasm that Harry and another friend could fit though appeared. A resounding crack rose from the crack, like metal grinding against metal. Said sound was not nice. Neither was the thing rising up from the crack. It was a huge earth creature (as shown by its entrance); it was humanoid in shape, with huge shoulders, huge arms, huge legs, huge torso. It was muddy brown in colour and seemed almost robotic in movement. It wasn't at all interesting to look at.

There was a tearing sound behind Harry. He turned small, barely visible water droplet formed in the air. Then another droplet and another droplet, each time making a renting sound. Soon the space in front Harry was riddled with hanging water droplets. Suddenly the droplets drew together, bonded together and formed a bigger droplet. This droplet wasn't too big, about the size of Harry torso –which was small in terms of torso sizes. It was pale blue and translucent with no eyes only a grim line in the centre of the droplet. Maybe to use as a mouth or eye or something. This creature was just as uninteresting as the last.

Harry was bored, very bored. These sprites weren't powerful; they were probably the weakest sprites they were, these were elementals. Harry had studied about elementals in the War. The elementals were a key to killing Voldermort. Next would come the caster, if the caster wasn't there already: invisible. So Harry waited for the caster, waited to find who was trying to do something to him, so that he could kill that person, or at least wring the life slowly out of them until they reached the point of dying. Then he'd stop and hand said person over to the Ministry of Magic. And he'd make sure that person rotted in Azkaban. He knew it was mean and evil but no one would be pardon if they threatened his baby.

'Harry Potter." Something spoke behind Harry, with a voice laced with power yet beautiful and mesmerizing. Harry turned to the voice. He was absolutely stunned when his eyes landed on the owner of the voice. It was a most beautiful woman of white blonde hair-with blues strands here and there- that were held parted and held back by long silver ribbon, silver eyes reminiscent of Draco Malfoy's, with slanted, pale eyebrows. Her face was narrow and beautiful; her slim figure draped in pale blue, almost white, robes that looked to be very expensive. She was young, very young in her early twenties. In her hand was a large staff, curled at the top with runes engraved along its length.

Harry stood straight: this woman seemed powerful very power – magic overflowed from her staff like an erupting mountain. Again a question sprang to Harry's mind 'What is going on?

"Harry Potter. Finally we get the pleasure to met"

Harry almost retched into his mouth at the sound of her voice. Her voice wasn't sickening as such; it was just so beautiful, so mesmerising, so enchanting, so powerful- laced with so much magic that a normal wizard would be bleeding from the ears by now. The woman traipsed softly towards Harry, her feet making no visible contact with the floor. Then she smiled at Harry, "I bet you're wondering who I am?" This time Harry didn't almost retch, he had set up double wards around himself.

"Lady Du Manth Feaimonth." She stopped walking as soon as she reached the fifth point of the pentagram. "That's who I am: Mistress of Magic."

Harry's eyes widened. The fabled Mistress of Magic was standing before him, he felt like he should kneel to her but he was frozen from surprise. Harry had read about her the History of Magic when he was seventeen, trying to look for a way to beat Voldermort. Dumbledore had said 'Kill all his Horcruxes' but Harry had, and then he had tried to take Voldermort on but had failed miserably. He had almost died, just saved by a centaur. Lady Du Manth Feaimonth was the mother of all magic, sister of Lady Sia du Feaimonth, a.k.a. Mother Nature, she made magic, constructed magic, designed magic. Set the conscripts, the rules. She was the one who chose who would be magical. She was the one who could perform any magic, she could do anything.

Almost no one had ever seen her, expect those wizards who performed the most of rituals, those with immense magical power like Harry, like Merlin. Any most of those wizards who saw her went mad as her magic messed with their brains.

Harry gulped, "What do you want with me?"

"So you do know who I am. I thought you would, after you summoned my pets. And after you stole some of my power." Her voice was playful and carefree; she was smiling in a sadistic manner.

Harry's eyes widened. So that's what happened, he thought. But it was impossible; he didn't call on any more power. He just called on-

"Oh don't worry," Lady Du Manth interrupted Harry's thoughts, "I don't mind, my power is infinite, literally. I have no limits. But now you need to pay me back. I don't care if you did it unwittingly; everything with magic in this world pays a price for having this gift. The unicorns have their horns, phoenixes their immortality, wizards their little feuds.

"You already had your problem by having to fight Voldermort. But since you took more magic, no since you theoretically stole the magic from me, you need to pay me.

Harry opened his mouth to object but thought better of it.

"So we have an understanding?"

Harry bowed his head, "Yes." He knew his measly opinion wouldn't matter to the woman who created magic.

"And you have nothing to worry about; it doesn't have anything to do with Death."

Harry almost sighed, what was with the mentality of powerful creatures, they always thought that human beings were scared of Death.

"I wasn't worried about that."

Lady Du Manth Feaimonth smiled devilishly, "one couldn't expect no less from the great Harry Potter. The man who came face to face with Lady Death herself. And, as my sister told me, you even bargained with her. Of course that annoyed brother a lot. Ah, he was seething with anger when Death narrated her encounter with the one who stole my magic and borrowed my pets." She stopped and titled her head, "so sorry about drifting off topic.

"I have decided what to do with you." She moved her staff forwards.

Harry was a little bit frightened. Lady Du Manth could put in him in limbo or some horrible state. Harry knew from experience that there were worse things than Death.

"Could you tell me the payment?"

Lady Du Manth smiled, "I am sending you back in time, you will relive your life from when you entered Hogwarts, from when you were sorted into Gryffindor. You will start a new life, maybe worse than this one, maybe better. But after 7 years I will come back and you will have to decide which life you want, this life or the one I am going to be sending you to."

Harry failed to see how that was a payment.

"Now off with you." She lifted the staff and started saying incantations "Dinive Medirulio Theuri Yuhig Malikg," the runes on the started to glow blue.

Harry had a vague idea what she was saying; he had studied the Magyk language when he had been searching for a way to defeat Voldermort. It was how he had summoned the elementals with which he had performed the ritual to summon Lady Death. Now Lady Du Manth was saying something about reversals, lines and time.

"Theormag Lykit Jauge-" She continued on for some time. Then suddenly the elementals started to make a sound akin to the howling of a wolf. The fire and earth elementals raised their arms and started swaying. The pentacle and the circle beneath Harry started glowing an incandescent blue, a non-existent wind blew Harry's hair upwards. "Guriga" Lady Du Manth's voice was now a mere whisper and she rose her staff which had turned black.

Now Harry was scared. Guriga meant something along the lines of send or end. This was the climax of the spell.

Indeed it was. The cacophony of the howling came to an all time high. Harry clasped his hand over his ears. Then he felt a rush flowing through him, like he was experiencing an orgasm, he gasped. Then there was a rumbling like two seas rushing together and then Harry knew naught but bliss and darkness.

"Well that was quick." Said a voice behind Lady Du Manth.

"Pfft, have you ever been to any rites such as this one, Dugyx?"

A tall slender man appeared. He had waist lenght white blonde hair that was laced with streaks of blue. On top of his head was a small pointed witch's hat. His eyes were a startling blue, like sea at close range. He was clothed in white robes, similar to the one his sister wore. His skin was a radiant pearly colour, full of life and happiness. He carried a staff similar to his sister expect it had little white crystals embedded in it in the stead of runes.

"I have, Du Manth. And I have to say that was hardly a payment." A lady stepped out of the air in front of the pair. She was barefooted and was wearing a small dress made out of leaves. She had green eyes and long dark brown hair that trailed down way past her ankles. Her skin was tanned and gold in tone.

"I know, I'm not very good at doing bad things to people am I?" Lady Du Manth sounded hopeless and clueless.

"Well then you should have let me decide what to do with him." The final sibling rose from the floor as if she'd been lying there all the time. Her hair was black streaked with white. Her skin was the palest of all skin tones and it shone in a ghostly manner. In her hand was a scythe, the blade was black as night and the handle was streaked with white just like the lady's hair.

The man know as Life glared at her, "We don't want you to kill him now do we?"

Death stuck her tongue at him.

Lady Sai du Feaimonthclapped her hands, "Now sister and brother, settle down. Let's watch this little play unfold."

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There. The prologue was meant to be really short. I'm sorry. Please review. I'd like to see your views. If your confused you can ask me to explain a certain thing. 


	2. Grain 1: Wonderweiss

Thank you all for your reviews. I'm happy you like it. I thought that chapter was confusing, at least a little confusing. For this chapter I hope there are more reviews. The chapters after this will be really long, as in really, really long as they will contain like half a year. Sorry about the wait, if you did wait, I had exams, yah 14 year olds have to worry about exams too. And some parts have been taken from the original story, so watch out! A Fine Frenzy freaking rock!

GinnyLover14: Yes there was a past H/G. I think there will be, just to make things interesting.

On with the story.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his friends belong to J.K.Rowling. I just borrowed them form her for a while, I'll return them I swear.

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Grain 1: Wonderweiss

"Harry! Harry! Wake up! Are you dead?"

"Huh what?" Harry cracked up his eyes weakly. He was very tired for some odd reason. He opened his eyes fully to see a freckled, red headed boy standing in front of him. What the? None of the Dursley's had red hair. Then he remembered everything: the half giant, Hagrid; going to Diagon Alley; meeting people who knew him even though he didn't know them; meeting Ollivander and getting a wand; meeting Draco Malfoy; getting on the train; meeting up with Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger and taking a dislike to her; meeting Draco Malfoy again and disliking him too and almost having a fight with him. But he didn't remember falling asleep.

"Good, you're awake. We have to put on our robes." Ron said Harry nodded in reply.

Both boys took off their jackets and pulled on the long black robes they had bought, well in Ron's case being given. Harry was very nervous- he kept studying the not-so-intricate design on his shoes and when he looked at Ron he saw that, underneath that mass of freckles, he was pale too.

"Er, we should take the sweets," Harry said, his voice cracking. "Yah," Ron replied. They then proceeded to stuff their pockets full of sweets. And then they joined the massive convention in the corridor.

The train finally slowed down and stopped. The doors opened and suddenly Harry and Ron found themselves pushed through the doors and out onto a cold, dark platform. Then eerily, a ball of light came floating towards the heads of the confused students. "Firs' years over here! All right the 'Arry?" Harry rolled his eyes as Hagrid came into view, why did the man have to care so much.

"Over 'ere firs' years. Follow me. Firs' years over 'ere. Mind yer step. Yer don't wanna fall do yer.

Cold, shivering and somewhat wet, the first years followed the conspicuous giant and his light down a narrow path. Harry couldn't see what made the paths so narrow but when he put out his hand, he felt something wooden and leaf-like.

"Yer'll get yer firs' sigh' o' 'Ogwarts in a sec, its jus' round tis bend 'ere."

Seconds later the whole group gave a loud "Ooooh"

And their 'ooooh' was right. Hogwarts was a sight to behold at night, its lights turning it into an heavenly castle. Harry smiled; this was where he'd be spending 9 months of this year.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called his loud voice cutting through Harry's reverie. Harry turned his head to see a little fleet of boat sitting in the water. Ron tugged Harry's sleeve and lead him to a boat that was already occupied by Neville and Hermoine.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then- forward!"

The boats followed his command, moving all at once like they shared one mind. They glided smoothly across the lake, which remained as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, looking up at the castle as if caught in a spell.

And then again Harry's reverie was broken by Hagrid's loud voice, "'Eads down!" he yelled as the first boats reached the cliff. The students bent their heads and the boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried through a dark tunnel until they'd reached an underground harbour that seemed to be beneath the castle. The students then proceeded to get out of the boats where they clambered out on the rocks and pebbles. Then Hagrid lead them up a long flight of stairs. Then when they reached a giant oak door.

"Everyone 'ere?" Hagrid asked. Then, without waiting for a reply knocked three times on the door.

Almost immediately, the doors swung open and out strode a tall woman with a stern, cat like face. She was wearing emerald robes and Harry thought she wasn't a person to cross.

"This 'ere is Professor McGonagall" said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here."

She turned around and opened the door again. A loud gasp chorused from the first years. The Entrance Hall was very big; it looked like you could fit a six-floor building into it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches and the like, the ceiling was too high to make out and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed the professor across the flagged stone floor. Harry could head the drone of voices from a doorway to the right; it must be the older years Harry thought. Professor McGonagall led the first years into a small chamber off the hall. They all crowded in, standing rather close together than they usually would have, peering about nervously and making small talk like what House one expected to be in.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the professor, "the start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in you house dormitory and spend free time in you house common room.

"The four housed are called Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Each house has its own noble history and each has produces outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn house points and you rule-breaking will lose you house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded with the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting." (A/N: that was bloody torture to write)

Her eyes lingered on Neville's dusty and rumpled cloak. Harry gulped and tried to smooth his hair down, of course he failed.

"I shall return when we're ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait here quietly." She then left the chamber.

"How do they sort us into houses," Harry turned to Ron.

"Some sort of test," the boy replied, "Fred said it hurts lot and George says they take 4 pints of your blood, but I think they were joking." But Ron's shaking form betrayed his words.

Harry's eyes widened in fear. A test? His mind went into panic mode. A test! But he couldn't do magic, what if he failed this test and everyone laughed at him. Or worse said that he was a fake. The chamber was filled with whispers as people asked of what was going to happen. Hermoine Granger's voice was of course the loudest; she was talking about all the spell and things she'd learnt and what one she should use.

Then several people behind Harry screamed Harry turned his body. What he saw almost made him scream too. In front of the students floated twenty ghosts, they were pearly white and translucent. They glided across the room, talking to each other and taking no notice of the white faced children whimpering in front of them. Then finally a ghost noticed them.

"Oh first years!" said the fattest ghost there, he looked like a friar, donned in the robes of a friar so Harry decided to call him the Fat Friar. "About to be sorted I suppose?"

Then Professor McGonagall returned, "Shoo," she said to the ghosts who floated way, passing to several students. "Form a line then, and follow me."

Harry got behind Ron, who was standing behind a sandy haired boy. They walked out the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors.

If the Entrance hall had being magnificent, then the Great Hall was beyond magnificent. It was something out of a fairy tale. It was lit by thousands upon thousands of floating candles. There were 

four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers where sitting. McGonagall led them to the teacher's table, so that the stop in a line facing the other students. The ghosts were there too, dotted here and there amongst the students. Harry, trying not to look at the older years, looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Hermoine said from her position next to him. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all and that the Great Hall didn't simply open to the heavens.

Harry's attention was drawn to the sound of McGonagall placing a four legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she placed a pointed wizard's hat. The hat didn't look to be in a good condition, it was patched and frayed and above all extremely dirty. If Aunt Petunia was here, she'd have most likely burnt it to cinders by now. Was this the test? To pull out a rabbit out of the hat? Well if it was, Harry would surely fail. Then the hat twitched and then a rip opened wide and then a voice was emitted from the rip, filling the Hall with a song.

(A/N: I am not putting that pathetic song in here, waste of better used time)

A few minutes later, the Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to it's audience and them became frigid and quite.

Next to him Ron said, "So we've just gotta try on a silly hat! I'm gonna kill Fred, he said something about trolls."

Harry was somewhat overjoyed at the prospect of not having to fight a troll, or having 4 pints of blood removed from his person but he wished they could try on the hat without everyone watching. What if the hat burnt up on his head?

McGonagall stepped forwards holding a large roll of parchment. "When I call your name," she said, "you will step forwards and put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

A small blonde haired girl stumbled out of the line, put on the hat and sat on the stool. There was a moment's pause and then "Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat.

The table to the foremost right cheered loudly and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Bones, Susan!"

"Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat again and Susan removed it and walked to the Hufflepuff table.

"Boot, Terry!"

"Ravenclaw!" this time the table just left of the Hufflepuff table cheered and clapped.

A Mandy Brocklehurst went to the Ravenclaw as well. The first Gryffindor was a 'Lavender Brown' and the first Slytherin was a fat girl called Millicent Bullstrode. Harry almost felt sorry for the Slytherins; Millicent was a fat and ugly girl, no doubt with an awful personality. The Hufflepuffs received Justin Finch-Fletchley. Gryffindor got Seamus Finnigan; the hat had taken a whole minute to decide on him. Ron groaned when Hermoine Granger was placed in Gryffindor. Then Harry's mind went into panic mode again, what if the hat just sat there on Harry's head and said nothing. And then McGonagall would say that there had been a mistake and Harry would be shoved back onto the train.

"Malfoy, Draco!" shouted McGonagall. It might have just been Harry's imagination but McGonagall's voice had sounded a little distasteful.

"Slytherin!" shouted the hat as soon as it had touched Malfoy's head.

The Slytherins cheered and clapped. But no one else in the Hall did.

Then suddenly it was Harry's turn.

"Potter Harry!" and as McGonagall shouted Harry's name, a great hush fell over the Great Hall.

"Potter, did she say?" said a voice as Harry stepped forwards

Then suddenly the Hall burst into whispering, "That's Harry Potter?"; "as in the Boy Who Lived?"; "yah. He came to our school?"; "as in _the _Harry Potter?"

It was all overwhelming but as Harry put the Sorting Hat on his head, the whispering died away as everybody wanted to know where Harry would end up.

"Hmm, said a voice in Harry's ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

Harry was about to say "Not Slytherin," but then he thought about it.

"Put me somewhere where I won't attract too much attention."

"Are you sure, if you go into Gryffindor, you'll have many friends and not as much enemies."

"I'm sure, I don't want attention. I want to be who I am, without any expectations."

"Okay. Since you've made up your mind. Better be SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the Hall. He opened his eyes- he had closed them without him knowing- almost everyone in the Hall was staring at him in disbelief. He turned round to look at Ron; his mouth was hanging open as though he was waiting for a fly. Harry turned towards the teacher's table. Hagrid was red in the face and he was also waiting for a fly.

Harry's face fell. Was his being in Slytherin a bad thing? He had heard that Voldermort had being in that house, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be inconspicuous, was that wrong? Suddenly he was angry, why must he be expected to do things that he didn't really want to do. He thought that school would change that, but this school just looked to be a repeat of the happenings at Dursley's. Then he felt the hat being lifted off his head and he turned to see Professor McGonagall's cat face. She was frowning and had disappointment written all over her face.

"Get going to your house Potter."

Harry began studying the not-so-intricate pattern on his shoes as he made his way towards the Slytherin. As soon as he reached the table he looked up, so he could catch a glimpse of the face of his new housemates. Harry sighed, most of them were sneering at him but there were the few who were actually smiling, strangely Malfoy was one of them. Harry walked towards the wall, knowing well that everyone in the Great Hall had found the way he walked fascinating. When he got to the wall, he leaned his shoulder against it and took a deep breath.

It took two minutes for the inhabitants of the Hall to come to their senses, and even then Harry still got the occasional glance. Through the whole two minutes Harry heard things like: "I can't believe he's in Slytherin,"; "you think he'll turn evil?"; "maybe Voldermort possessed him or something."

It was all very ... Well it wasn't at all nice. Harry just wished that the earth would open and swallow him up. He looked again at Ron who smiled weakly at him. Harry frowned, maybe his decision was wrong, and maybe he should be in the house Ron was going to be in, which undoubtedly was Gryffindor. Ron Weasley was his first friend here in Hogwarts, and his first friend in 5 years; he had a friend when he was 6 years old, in Year 2, but Dudley had told his friend that Harry had cooties and that had been the end of Harry first ever friendship. He still wanted to be Ron's friend, but that might not happen now.

It was Ron's turn now and like Harry had predicted, he got sorted into Gryffindor. The Gryffindor table cheered, but it wasn't like before, where most of the table would have stood up and shaken Ron's hand. The only people who stood up were Ron's brother: Percy, Fred and George. As Ron walked over to the Gryffindor table, he smiled at Harry and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'Oh well.'

And last of all was Blaise Zabini, he got sorted into Slytherin, smiled nicely at Harry before taking his place next to Malfoy. The smile made butterflies erupt in his stomach. Harry felt himself blushing. He didn't know what came over him. Maybe it was him hoping that Zabini would become his friend. Or maybe it was something else.

Albus Dumbledore got stood and clapped signalling for everyone to shut up. He was smiling, like a Cheshire cat, and had his arms wide open, as if nothing could have pleased him more than seeing them here.

"Welcome," he said, "to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words...: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"He sat back down. Everyone expect most of the Slytherins clapped and cheered. Harry didn't clap. He was far too worried about making friends.

"Senile old fart," said someone to Harry's left bringing him out of his thoughts. He sighed and sat down at the far end of the Slytherin table. He looked around, to see if anyone sat near him. No one sat near him. Then he noticed Blaise smiling at him, Harry blushed but managed to smile back. Blaise waved and stood up, followed closely by Malfoy. Harry quickly looked away realising that Blaise and company were going to sit next to him. Remembering what Ron had said about his scar Harry quickly brushed his fringe over his scar.

"Hey. Can we sit here?" said a voice above Harry's left shoulder.

Harry looked down at his empty gold plate, "Yah, you can sit there." He began fiddling with his fingers in nervousness.

"Aren't you gonna eat something?" asked the voice.

"Oh yah." Harry lifted his face to Blaise, "thanks," he said blushing. Blaise grinned in reply.

The butterflies in Harry's stomach erupted again and he felt his face heating up again.

Blaise Zabini looked Italian or at least Spanish. He had soft looking tanned skin that seemed to glow ethereally in the candlelight. He had shoulder length , midnight black hair that framed his face quite handsomely. He was smiling again. Harry's eyes grew to twice their usual size and he quickly turned away and started piling food unto his plate. He'd being staring at Blaise!

He looked at the food in front of him. Wow, he thought, so much to choose from. And indeed there was, there was turkey roast, roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops or lamp chops take your pick, bacon and steak, boiled or roasted potatoes, peas, carrot, gravy and oddly enough mint humbugs,

Blaise noticed Harry staring quizzically at the humbugs, "I know right, you eat humbugs at a feast, talk-less of mint flavoured ones. Harry nodded and swallowed. He hoped he could eat as much as he wanted- like a buffet of sorts. The Dursleys never allowed him to eat as much as he wanted, they never even allowed him to eat on some occasions, they said he was too fat and would become noticeable.

Then Harry felt a cold hand on his back, he quickly turned around. And let out a half gasp, half yelp when he saw the ghost behind him. The ghost was pale even by ghost standards; he had a gaunt face and was covered in silver blood. He was too pleasant to look at.

"Hello boy," the ghost said bending over and looking at him with scrutiny.

Harry managed a smile, wondering in the back of his mind how the ghost got to be covered in so much blood.

"I am the Baron of Nerdy,"

"Leave them be, can't you see that there scared of you," this voice came from a tall stocky boy to the Baron's left.

The Baron nodded and floated away.

"Don't mind the Bloody Baron. You'll get used to him after a while. I'm Marcus Flint, Slytherin Prefect," said the boy, trying to smile but failing horribly.

"I know," said Draco Malfoy in a bored voice, "and I'm Draco Malfoy. Son of Luci-"

"Yes I know, I think everybody knows," Marcus said cutting Draco off mid sentence. He turned to Harry, "and you are the famous Harry Potter."

Harry turned around quickly but not before nodding.

"He's not that famous," said Draco, a touch of envy in his voice.

"Yes he is," said Blaise grinning when Draco glared at him

"Well welcome to Slytherin Harry Potter. I hope you enjoy being in this house. We've won every House Championship for six years. You'd help us win you know being Harry Potter and all."

Harry didn't reply, he didn't want any expectation that was what he'd ask of the Sorting Hat, maybe the Hat liked conning people off.

"So well bye then," said Flint taking the hint when Harry didn't reply. Harry heard his trudging steps.

"Don't worry," said Blaise causing Harry to look up, " Flint's just being stupid, like his whole family. Besides it's not like you can get into the Quidditch team, first years aren't allowed." Blaise smiled, Harry tried smiling but found himself blushing instead receiving a grin from the Italian.

"Bet they'll let him in the team though, him being "Harry Potter" and all," Draco crooked his fingers in the air for the quotation marks.

Harry didn't reply but instead began to eat.

"Draco!" squealed a high pitched voice. Harry stopped eating and turned towards the voice, it belong to a dark haired girl who looked as though she been in an accident involving a Rottweiler- she was very ugly.

Blaise laughed, "Don't look now Draco but it's Pansy Parkinson."

Draco groaned, "What does she want with me now? I told her I wasn't interested."

"Obviously she didn't take the hint."

Draco groaned again. Harry understood what was going on and smiled at Malfoy's misfortune. The girl came up to the table and sat down.

"Hi Draco, you probably didn't know I was coming to Hogwarts," she said reaching towards Draco's hair.

He quickly drew away, "Yes I did, I could I forget when you told me over forty times."

"I did?" she asked sounding a tad retarded.

"Yes you did," said Draco firmly, "now don't you have friends to go to."?

"Unfortunately no, nobody here seems to want to talk to me."

"Yes and we all know why," Blaise said, a smile playing upon his pale pink lips.

The girl known as Pansy, what a horrid name thought Harry, remembering that Dudley called him that on numerous counts, glared at Blaise. Harry didn't like her very much, she was too girly and brain dead.

"Say what you want Zabini, but Draco wants me here," she said.

Harry almost laughed seeing the disgusted look on the Malfoy's visage.

"No, I don't." Draco began stabbing at his food with a fork.

Pansy tried to pout but ended up looking like the back side of a donkey, "fine then. I'll leave." She stood up, tossed her hair behind her shoulder –accidentally slapping the boy behind her, and stormed off dramatically, at least she tried to be dramatic.

"It's a wonder how Mother puts up with her," said Draco pushing his plate aside.

"She wants you to get married to her obviously. You know preserve the family line and everything," the boy whom Pansy had hit trying to be dramatic had spoken.

"Theo! Come sit with us," Blaise beckoned the brown haired boy.

"Where?" the boy pushed up his glasses and looked around.

"Sit there, next to Harry," Blaise gestured to the empty seat next to Harry.

Harry looked up at Blaise surprised that the boy had said his first name. Did that mean that they were friends? Harry smiled to himself.

"And what are you smiling at?" Draco asked sneering.

Harry blushed and looked down at his food, he wondered why Malfoy didn't like him. Then he remembered the train incident and Malfoy asking him to be his friend.

"Draco? Are you still upset about him not wanting to be your friend? Honestly, the way you acted back there even I wouldn't want to be your friend," Blaise said.

Harry was happy that Blaise was sticking up for him, and he was even happier when Theo, whom he didn't know one bit, nodded in confirmation.

Draco glared at Blaise, "fine. If that's how you're going to be. I'll leave." Draco stood up with his tray and walked away from the table, with more grace that Pansy.

Blaise laughed while Theo simply moved his book to cover his face and flicked a page with one long feminine finger, "It's okay," said Blaise tapping Harry's shoulder, "he does that all the time, he'll calm down by tomorrow morning". Harry smiled in reply.

"Look, Harry. There's new teachers. At least I think they're new." Blaise looked at the High table.

"Oh I know two of them," said Harry, shyness ebbing away.

"Which ones?" asked Blaise.

"There's Hagrid, the big guy to talking Professor McGonagall,"

"He's a half giant," commented Theo looking away from his book.

"And there Mr, well I guess I should call him Professor, Professor Qui-" Harry stopped talking as a stabbing pain shot through the scar on his forehead as the man next to Professor Quirell looked at him.

"Are you okay?" asked Blaise moving his hand to Harry back. He had been swaying from the pain.

Harry shook his head, "N-nothing," the pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had got from the teacher's eye- a feeling of intense hate.

"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirell?" he asked.

"Who?" replied Blaise, chomping on roast potatoes.

"The teacher with the turban."

"Oh. That's Professor Snape. Apparently he teaches Potions. And he's really mean. Rumour had it that he was with-"

"Theo! You can't say that here." Blaise said glaring at Theo.

Harry didn't bother questioning Blaise: he was far too tired. He didn't notice it when Dumbledore stood up. And he was asleep by the time the school began to sing.

"Harry wake up, time to go." Theo shook him awake.

"Why'd you wake him up," asked a girl he did not know, "he looked cute sleeping." She smiled at Harry, who blushed he seemed to have a habit of doing that today.

Harry stood up then suddenly someone grabbed his hand and held it firmly, he turned scared but it was only Blaise. Harry was confused at his feelings, he was relieved that it was only Blaise but he was nervous as well.

"Don't want you getting lost now do we?" Blaise smiled at him receiving another blush from Harry.

He was still sleepy so didn't register his surrounding. But when the Slytherin troupe reached the dungeons he was fully alert. It was dark and reminded him of the cupboard he used to sleep in. He didn't like it. He squeezed Blaise's hand.

"Are you okay?"

Harry nodded. Blaise nodded in reply and smiled, making butterflies erupt in Harry's stomach.

"We here." Blaise opened a door which suddenly appeared in front of them. Inside the room, which was very big and grandeur, were four fully made master beds. On one of the beds lay Draco Malfoy.

"That's were you are."

"Don't tell me he's sleeping in here," said Draco glaring at Harry.

Harry frowned suppressing the urge to hide behind Blaise.

"Oh and look at that," sneered Draco, "you're both holding hands."

"He fell asleep so I didn't want him getting lost. And yes he is sleeping here," replied Blaise, "and stop being mean."

"As am I." Theo said, coming into the room, face still buried in his book.

Draco sighed and turned around and placed his head onto his pillow. This was going to be fun, he thought.

Wow, finally finished. Writing this is going to be so fun. I'm happy. Please review! Please. Tell me what you think as well


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